Researching for Reports and Projects | Life Solutions of Dallas-Fort Worth

Students who struggle with learning, attention, and executive functioning difficulties are often at a loss about how to complete research for reports and other projects. Try this guide to help your student successfully start and finish this important task.

Understand Your Teacher’s Guidelines for Research Sources.

First, re-read your teacher’s directions and the requirements specified for sources of research. Follow these guidelines to identify research sources at the library, bookstore, or on-line that will provide support for your thesis.

Find good information in printed books or journals.

Check the Table of Contents. The table of contents tells you what information you can learn from the book or journal. Look at the number of pages devoted to your topic to figure out if it is worth considering.
Check out the Index. Look up the specifics of what you’re writing about in the index. This will tell you how many pages are devoted to what you’re interested in learning.
Quickly Skim the Details. Turn to the pages listed in the index or table of contents. Skim those pages to confirm what you’re looking for is there. If the information applies, stick a tape-flag to that page.
Look at the Appendices. Look for tables, maps, and charts you may need.

Search for good information on the internet.

Use proven search engines. Try search engines suggested by your teacher or Google Scholar for articles published in scientific and peer reviewed journals.
Use descriptors of your specific topic. Include the specifics of your teacher’s requirements and/or your thesis statement or in order to narrow the number of results from your search.
Look for recent information. Especially for journal articles on Google Scholar, start with articles published during the past three to four years.
Look for unbiased information. Start with websites that end in .edu, .org, or .gov to ensure that it is not a site selling a specific product or process. Look for websites that gather research-based articles like www.researchgate.net. For websites ending in .com look for words like “research” or “proven” or similar words in the descriptor.

Review internet pages or articles in your search results.

Read the title and bolded headings: Quickly review the title and headings to see if it addresses your specific topic. If so, go on to the next step. If not, go back to your search.
For journal articles, read the abstract. Does it address the specific topic you have chosen or been assigned? If so, continue. College students are urged to use a journal article review form.

Use the cursor to quickly skim information on a webpage or internet article.

Do not read everything on the page carefully at first. Read quickly to find out what is included in a webpage or article. Look for words or phrases that match your topic. If a journal article is in PDF format, use the “Find” feature under the “Edit” tab.
If you find words or phrases that match your topic, then read the information immediately around those words and ask yourself, “Does this information help me develop my report?” If so, go on to the next step. If you find that the information is not related to what you need, then keep searching.

Print or clip internet pages and articles you can use.

If you decide that you need to read the information in more detail, you can print the page, you can clip it using an application like Evernote or OneNote, or you can bookmark the site and go back to it and read it again.
Be sure and collect bibliography information. If not this information is not documented when you print, copy the URL or the address of the website so that you can notate for any research you are doing and so that you can find this website again. Record the author’s name, the title, and record the date of publication.

Carefully read and document information for your paper.

For those books that have the information you need, go back to your flagged pages and read the information there in detail.
Read in detail the information from the internet articles or pages you have printed or clipped.
Document the information you want to use in your report using my bibliography sheet or any other method you choose. Write quotes verbatim and/or summarize information for your report.

Life Solutions of Dallas-Fort Worth

Do Your Research!

Students who struggle with learning, attention, and executive functioning difficulties are often at a loss about how to complete research for reports and other projects. Try this guide to help your student successfully start and finish this important task.

Understand Your Teacher’s Guidelines for Research Sources.

First, re-read your teacher’s directions and the requirements specified for sources of research. Follow these guidelines to identify research sources at the library, bookstore, or on-line that will provide support for your thesis.

Find good information in printed books or journals.

Check the Table of Contents. The table of contents tells you what information you can learn from the book or journal. Look at the number of pages devoted to your topic to figure out if it is worth considering.

Check out the Index. Look up the specifics of what you’re writing about in the index. This will tell you how many pages are devoted to what you’re interested in learning.

Quickly Skim the Details. Turn to the pages listed in the index or table of contents. Skim those pages to confirm what you’re looking for is there. If the information applies, stick a tape-flag to that page.

Look at the Appendices. Look for tables, maps, and charts you may need.

Search for good information on the internet.

Use proven search engines. Try search engines suggested by your teacher or Google Scholar for articles published in scientific and peer reviewed journals.

Use descriptors of your specific topic. Include the specifics of your teacher’s requirements and/or your thesis statement or in order to narrow the number of results from your search.

Look for recent information. Especially for journal articles on Google Scholar, start with articles published during the past three to four years.

Review internet pages or articles in your search results.

Read the title and bolded headings: Quickly review the title and headings to see if it addresses your specific topic. If so, go on to the next step. If not, go back to your search.

For journal articles, read the abstract. Does it address the specific topic you have chosen or been assigned? If so, continue. College students are urged to use a journal article review form.

Use the cursor to quickly skim information on a webpage or internet article.

Do not read everything on the page carefully at first. Read quickly to find out what is included in a webpage or article. Look for words or phrases that match your topic. If a journal article is in PDF format, use the “Find” feature under the “Edit” tab.

If you find words or phrases that match your topic, then read the information immediately around those words and ask yourself, “Does this information help me develop my report?” If so, go on to the next step. If you find that the information is not related to what you need, then keep searching.

Print or clip internet pages and articles you can use.

If you decide that you need to read the information in more detail, you can print the page, you can clip it using an application like Evernote or OneNote, or you can bookmark the site and go back to it and read it again.

Carefully read and document information for your paper.

For those books that have the information you need, go back to your flagged pages and read the information there in detail.

Read in detail the information from the internet articles or pages you have printed or clipped.

Document the information you want to use in your report using my bibliography sheet or any other method you choose. Write quotes verbatim and/or summarize information for your report.

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(c) 2010-2019, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.